Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000 or simply Warhammer 40K is a miniature-based tabletop game. It involves building and painting your own miniature army and pit them against others' on a dioramic 6x4 or 4x4 feet table using a standardized set of game rules. Miniature armies come in various factions, from Imperial commandos to space-faring orks, each with its own background stories (what 40K players call "fluff") and combat units.

My army, a sub-faction of the Adeptus Astartes or the Space Marines, is of the so-called Dark Angels Chapter - one of thousands of regiments of bio-enhanced supersoldiers created by the Emperor of Man to impose his will throughout the grim universe of the 41st millennium.


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Dark Angels of the Adeptus Astartes
The Dark Angels Chapter is first among legions of Space Marines bred by the Emperor from his own genetic imprints. Enhanced physiologically for combat operations, they are literally Angels of Death in the battlefield, sowing fear to anyone who dared oppose their mandate. Their homeworld, Caliban - now reduced to a barren asteroid after an epic battle against their traitorous Brothers - holds the Chapter's mobile fortress-monastery called the Tower of Angels. Here, deep within the labyrinthine pathways to the underground caverns, lies the key to their monastic nature. The Dark Angels hides a millenia-long secret that compromised their honor. It is with this reason that they and their Successor Chapters are called the Unforgiven.


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The Interrogator-Chaplain's Wargaming Sanctum

Monday, November 24, 2014

First Master - Work In Progress

First up in my get-back-to-painting-Marines program is the WIP stand-in for Grand Master Belial. It's obviously the Terminator Captain from the Dark Vengeance set (since there's no model for the Grand Master at that time) and I rush-painted him for a tournament two years ago. I just slapped on the basic requirements in there to make it look tabletop ready. The basing is there (which I textured a bit with epoxy putty), the robe is bordered red, his weapons are basecoated, there are work done on some details of the robe ornaments, and other important parts of the armor are painted as well.

to pass the 3-color rule

The elite Terminators of my Dark Angels Successor Chapter wear black or violet robes on top of their black ceramite armors. For the First Master, my aim is a violet one. That's P3 purple highlighted with a lighter GW purple and washed with GW sepia. I highlighted the red trims with a light P3 orange paint.
 
After that, I polished the paint details on various jujus hanging on his robe. Those little trinkets take a lot of time to work on, especially that bulky censer!

robe area - done

I paint figs part by part so after the robe area is done, I decided to work on the right arm next. Since I'm working on a "Belial", I want the storm bolter to look master-crafted. After retouching the paint on the gun's red foreplate, I colored its dual mags a warm GW gold color and washed it with GW sepia. The rest stayed black and boltgun. I named the storm bolter "Pax" (ironically, meaning "peace" in Latin) and wrote it on the gun's plate.
 
Halfway through highlighting the gun, that small part of me that has ADD noticed the ugly rush-painted "angel" on the Terminator's right foot. So I immediately diverted my effort on it by repainting the GW dark green robes, highlighted it with a lighter P3 green, glazed its silver wings with a GW yellow glaze and finished it with a GW sepia wash.

my progress for the night

I set to go back to painting the right arm again but it's time's up for me. The High Lord has declared bedtime and so I must obey. Until the next time, then. Ave Imperator!

Inscribed by Interrogator-Chaplain Randel on 7:37 PM               0 Incoming Transmission

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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Knights of Caliban

This post also appears in the TAG journal.

dreadwing
Squad Dekar of the First Company



 Well met, Brothers! As I prepare to convince my lazy arse to get back to painting my Dark Angels army, I opted to start by setting a thousand point target.

  • Grand Master Belial (sword and gun)
  • 10 Deathwing Assault Terminators (5 shield/hammer, 1 sword/gun, 4 knuckles/guns, and 2 bazooka)
  • 5 Tactical Marines (4 guns and a big laser)
  • 5 Tactical Marines (4 guns and a big laser)
  • 3 Ravenwing Bikers (2 phalic guns and a meltabomb)

I did not give much thought about getting this list fully competitive. Instead, I just want it to be representative of a mixed-wing Dark Angels strike force to showcase the different aspects of this Chapter's arsenal.

About 60% of models in this army are in various state of unfinished-ness (mostly just basecoated) so it should be a convenient way to ease my way back to painting armor again (was painting fleshy Ogres for a year now) instead of immediately jumping in and paint from plastic gray.

 I'll try my best to post progress as I go along so here goes. For the Lion!

Inscribed by Interrogator-Chaplain Randel on 11:06 AM               0 Incoming Transmission

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Never forgive! Never forget!